Casimir-Polder effect for a stack of conductive planes

Abstract

The Casimir-Polder interaction between an atom and a multilayered system composed of infinitely thin planes is considered using the zeta-function regularization approach with zero-point energies summation. As a prototype material, each plane is represented by a graphene sheet, an atomically thin layer of Carbon atoms organized in a hexagonal lattice, whose optical response is described by a constant conductivity or Drude-Lorentz model conductivity. Asymptotic expressions for various separations are derived and compared to numerical calculations. We distinguish between large atom/plane distance limit, where retardation effects are prominent, and small atom/plane distance limit, where the typical van der Waals coefficient is found to be dependent on the number of graphenes and characteristic separations. The calculated energies for different atoms and graphene conductivity models brings forward the basic science of the Casimir-Polder effect and suggests ways to manipulate this interaction experimentally.

Low-temperature expansion of the Casimir–Polder free energy for an atom interacting with a conductive plane

“…For definiteness we consider Hydrogen atom in framework of one-oscillator model (see Ref. [4]) and distance a = 10nm between atom and plane of graphene. Then the interval of temperatures T ∈ [0, 100 • ]K corresponds to interval of parameter χ ∈ [0, 2.7]·10 −3 .…”

Low-temperature behavior of the Casimir-Polder free energy and entropy for an atom interacting with graphene

“…In the last few years much attention has been focused on the Casimir-Polder interaction of different atoms with graphene and graphene-coated substrates [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29]. Graphene is a twodimensional sheet of carbon atoms packed in a hexagonal lattice which possesses unusual electrical, optical and mechanical properties [30,31].…”

How to observe the giant thermal effect in the Casimir force for graphene systems

“…The van der Waals and Casimir forces in microsystems involving graphene have already been studied using a variety of theoretical approaches [24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. In the framework of the Dirac model [1][2][3][4], the natural description of the Casimir force in graphene systems, based on the first principles of quantum electrodynamics at nonzero temperature, is provided by the formalism of the polarization tensor in (2+1)-dimensional space-time [35][36][37][38][39][40][41].…”